Tokyo Olympics 2020: American teen Athing Mu wins gold medal in 800m class

Athing Mu of the United States gained the gold medal within the Olympic girls’s 800 metres last on Tuesday and have become the primary American lady to take action since 1968. Her compatriot Raevyn Rogers bagged the bronze medal.

Keely Hodgkinson of Britain took silver.Leading virtually from the beginning, Mu dominated the race and crossed the road away from her rivals in a time of 1:55.21, to safe the U.S. a second gold within the occasion after Madeline Manning’s triumph in 1968.The absence of South Africa’s double champion Caster Semenya, dominated ineligible as a consequence of heightened testosterone ranges, opened up the sector to a brand new winner and the 19-year-old Mu took full benefit.Mu, whose dad and mom moved to the U.S. from Sudan twenty years in the past, mentioned it was “awesome” that she gained gold at such a younger age.”I wasn’t really putting gold on that, but as it got closer to the final today, I was like, ‘Yeah, we want gold’,” the 19-year-old mentioned.Mu mentioned getting forward rapidly was a part of her technique.”I wanted to go early from the front and not let anyone mess up my race plan. I just wanted to do my own thing,” she mentioned.Mu’s time was an American nationwide document.”I knew it was pretty close but to do that again feels amazing,” she mentioned.Along with the bronze for Rogers, who posted a private better of 1:56.81, the pair turned the primary U.S. medallists within the occasion since 1988.Britain’s Hodgkinson ran a superb second half of the race to earn silver and after the race, she was enthusiastic about two youngsters profitable medals on the grandest stage.”There’s not just one 19-year-old in the race, there is two…which is unbelievable. Hopefully it stems for a good competitive 10-15 years ahead and faster times on the horizon,” she mentioned.The 19-year-old broke 2004 Olympic champion Kelly Holmes’s British nationwide document with a time of 1:55.88.”Kelly is a massive legend of the sport and she always will be with that double Olympic gold. She sent us all a few messages in the last couple of day”, she instructed reporters. “I am quite in shock about that time.”Asked how she would have fun, Hodgkinson mentioned; “You’ll catch me in the pub. One guilt-free night out before I finish the rest of the season and then off-season in September.”Rogers, 24, mentioned it felt “surreal” to win bronze.”I think it’s settling in. Just being able to take something back home, I’m really proud,” she mentioned.Rogers devoted the medal to her mom who’s celebrating her birthday in the present day.”It’s morning time in America, so she’s going to have this whole day to celebrate. I’m just really happy. I just want to make them proud,” she mentioned.READ MORE: Tokyo Olympics 2020: Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis wins gold in males’s pole vaultREAD MORE: Tokyo Olympics: US gymnast Biles fights off ‘twisties’ to assert ‘sweeter bronze than Rio’